“What do you mean Ellie is gone!?”

  “That Ellie is gone! I headed back home but I couldn’t find her anywhere!”

  “But where could she have gone!?”

  “You think I know!? I-“

  “Calm down Heather, we’ll find her, I promise!”

  Heather it’s very shaken, understandably so.

  “Give me a second!”

  I quickly headed outside the entrance and jumped to the roof of the pace, fortunately it’s very tall so I have a good view of almost all of the town and began smelling around. I remember what Ellie scent is like but again, for as much as I tried, I couldn’t find her location nor her presence anywhere! Is it just me or has my nose been useless as of te!? What’s happening!?

  “Ah! No good!”

  I headed down the pace roof.

  “Can’t find her anywhere…”

  “That means!-”

  “Calm down, we need to think of something…”

  Hmm... well more input would be appreciated!

  “Celestial!”

  “Yes?”

  She then simply appeared from thin air! In reality she appeared from the corner of the hall, still that was pretty quick!

  “Don’t scare me like that! Ah it doesn’t matter, I need your help!”

  “What happened?”

  “Heather’s sister got kidnapped, but try as I might, I can’t find where could she be”

  “I’m sorry Marisa, I’m not good at looking for people I’ve never met”

  “That’s...”

  I looked behind me, Heather is on the verge of crying...

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find her, I promise on my name!”

  “Maybe she just left somewhere?”

  “I don’t think so! Ellie would never leave the house by herself!”

  “Well we have to do something! Or rather look somewhere, any idea where we could start the search?”

  “I looked at the vicinity near our home, but she was nowhere to be found!”

  “She couldn’t have gone far! I’ll comb the town, Heather, you should head back home and give a more thorough look in the streets around it! I’ll meet you there in a couple of hours!”

  “O-ok!”

  And so, I dashed through the streets of the town, but there’s something inherently wrong, particurly my nose, I-

  “Achoo!”

  *sniff* ah, bless me, I realized it before when Heather came rushing and I started looking for Ellie, I couldn’t pick up Heather’s scent as soon as I started dashing, it’s weird, I usually don’t pay attention to my ridiculous senses unless I’m actively looking for something, but I know for a fact I could smell Heather from the pace to her house, and now a couple of streets away, she’s gone too.

  Terrible moment to catch a cold! Is it even a cold? I don’t feel sick or anything, ah whatever! For now I dash through the town, even if I can’t smell or catch Ellie’s presence from far away, I should be able to find it if I get close to her!

  I dashed through the roofs of the town for easier running, not having to worry about crashing with people or things like that, they all look at me like a weirdo, although just for a split second, I’m going quite fast, just because my nose doesn’t work, doesn’t mean my other senses are useless, I’m keeping my eyes open, looking around and trying to find her anywhere, scanning all the people I run across, not only that I’m also paying attention to the sounds around me, perhaps struggle or things like that, I did in fact find a thief mugging someone in a back alley, no time to worry about them, none of them are Ellie, sorry guy getting robbed, not the time right now.

  Hmm... ok fine! I dashed back to the robber and punched his head clean off his shoulders, it was a split second as well, whatever back to searching!

  ...

  ...

  “Marisa!”

  “Heather! Did you find anything!?”

  “No... not much…”

  “Same, I think I dashed through the whole town! Not even a hint of your sister anywhere!”

  “Ugh... I asked the neighbors, they say that there was a shady person going around the streets around here”

  “That’s a good start! Do the neighbors know what this person looked like?”

  “No, they said he was covered in a cloak, it’s the only thing I could gather”

  “Shady person wearing a cloak… perhaps a kidnapper?”

  “I! I didn’t wish to admit it but…”

  Heather it’s visibly shaken, tears won’t stop falling from her eyes, she really it’s about to break down...

  “What am I gonna do! I need to find her! She’s my only family!”

  I mean... thinking rationally, thanks to me you abandoned her alone in the house every night, she was an easy target...

  “But who would want to kidnap her! She’s-“

  “Wait!”

  I stopped Heather in her rambling. A sudden gut feeling or intuition came to me, it’s only been 3 days since Heather became my concubine! No way Ellie got targeted this quickly, it had to be someone who knew Heather wasn’t home at night, and had reasons to kidnap her.

  “I think I know who did this”

  I ran back towards the pace, carrying Heather in my arms along the way. I then looked around, entering a hall and finding the butler that was always close to the piggy lord.

  “You!”

  I pointed at him after letting Heather down, and aggressively walked towards him.

  “What!?”

  “If you value your life, then you’re gonna tell me where the piggy is!”

  “What, this again!? You already asked me yesterday! I don’t know, he headed towards the capital!”

  “Py dumb, I’ll really kill you!”

  I then grabbed the neck of his shirt. I would like to lift him but he’s taller than me, so I instead pulled him down to get his face at my height level.

  “I don’t know! I swear!”

  “...tch!”

  He’s not lying... I don’t think he is, my instincts could usually tell me so, they do so right now in fact, but I feel skeptical about believing me right now!

  “Where’s my sister!?”

  Whoa! I sometimes forget that Heather is missing limbs seeing how she moves from time to time. She used the opportunity to pin the butler to the wall, using her forearm to press his neck. I had to stop her from strangling him.

  “Wait Heather, we won’t know anything like this”

  “Tsk!”

  She let go, the poor butler it’s scared about Heather more than me for some reason.

  “Miss Heather's sister is missing?”

  “Yes, and I just know, no I’m certain! That the piggy lord did it!”

  “That’s impossible, he would never-“

  He stopped mid sentence, he probably felt my death stare, or maybe it was Heather’s, honestly I don’t know, we do be ganging up on him.

  “C’mon, you’ve been working for the piggy for a long time right?, where did he disappear to?”

  “Y-you think I would sell milord like that!”

  “Is your loyalty worth more than your life?”

  I asked him, He then looked down thinking, and after a minute of pondering he let out a long and tired sigh. Even his subordinates are crap.

  “I really don’t know where he could be, nor do I know where Heather’s sister is but, the times milord had to disappear a girl to his likings, he would sell them to the sve market”

  “Are you fucking kidding me!?”

  “Where did he sell her to!?”

  “I don’t know! Selling sves is illegal, remember! Even Milord wouldn’t be able to track a girl if he sold her, they’re professionals! That’s why he disappears them like this!”

  “Ellie...”

  Ugh...

  “You’re not precisely the most helpful!”

  I said, grabbing him by the neck.

  “Ugh!”

  Haa... no point in killing him.

  “Whatever, is there no way to locate her? Or am I gonna have to flip the entire town all over again?”

  “T-there’s the monthly auction in the te afternoon! You could buy her back in it!”

  “The afternoon! Do you think I can sit by and wait that long! Allowing them time to do horrible things to her!”

  “H-how old is your sister?”

  “8...”

  “She’s really young! And the auction is today, there’s no way they’ll touch her, virgin girls are pricier after all”

  “Scum!”

  I punched him in the stomach, but in a sense, even though I really doubt the veracity of what he said, I know it’s not a lie, or at least he’s telling what he thinks is true, so we have no other choice but to believe him.

  “Tch... well, no other choice then, let’s storm the pce! Butler, where is the auction taking pce?”

  “W-which one?”

  “Haa!? Come again!?”

  “There’s three auctions today, in three different pces”

  “The three, let’s storm all three”

  “Even if you go, there’ll be nothing there! The auction is of utmost secrecy, the pce is gonna be empty until an hour or so before the auction starts, and as soon as it’s over they all disappear!”

  “Tch...”

  “Besides, if you make a ruckus on one, the other ones will scramble in seconds!”

  “Dammit!”

  “What are we gonna do!?”

  “We’ll save them! All three of them!”

  “Then? What’s the pn!?”

  “There’s no choice, we’ll have to split up, Butler, tell me the locations!”

  “It’s useless, they won’t let you in without an invitation! I mentioned it before but if you force your way in, forget about saving them! They’re capable of killing the sves on the spot to not leave any possible loose ends!”

  “You’re not helping! Can you get us invitations inside?”

  “O-of course! I’ll see what I can do!”

  And he left, he can’t go far, I’ll slice his head off if he tries to flee.

  “BETTER KEEP YOUR WORD!”

  I yelled at him as he dashed, I’m not pying around.

  ...

  ...

  It took him an hour or so, but he came back with three letters in one hand and a rolled map on the other, turns out he’s not as useless as I thought, I see why piggy keeps him around.

  I then gathered Heather and Celestial in a room.

  “Ok girls, here’s the map!”

  I pced it on the table. Heather is super nervous right now, Celestial has her usual poker face, but I can see fire in her eyes for some reason. Also, is this a map of the city? Bigger than I thought, I’ll keep the map afterwards.

  “Fortunately there’s 2 pces a bit close to each other, Celestial will go to the southern one, according to the butler, they’re split in quality, from cheap ones to expensive ones, Celestial will go to the middle one”

  I said pointing to the pce circled in the map.

  “Understood”

  “Once you get the signal, wreck the pce! The mission is to save all the sves, if you can capture the svists that’s a bonus, if it’s impossible then kill them, it’s ok even if some of them escape, just remember the priority is to save all the sves!”

  “Of course! Wait, signal?”

  “Yeah, particurly, the auctions start at different times, yours it’s the first one to start! And so you have to bide your time, I think you’re strong enough, can you keep track of everyone in there?”

  “I can, what will be the signal?”

  “That’s for Heather to give! you will go to the southeast one, it’s closer to Celestial, if things go awry in your pce evacuate and give the signal, Celestial will go to your aid”

  “T-that’s...”

  “I understand your pain, but I’m sure this pces are gonna be guarded extremely tight, I don’t think you could take everyone down by force”

  Heather then bit her lip down in frustration. It’s the truth, me and Celestial can just destroy the pce if needed, Heather it’s the weakest of us three, thus she’s also going to the cheapest auction.

  “Don’t worry, I have a pn! Come with me”

  I took Heather and Celestial to the courtyard, where all the pace guards were formed in line, looking formal as all hell!

  “Listen up everyone! I know I promised vacations, and rest assured I’ll keep my promise, but for now there’s more pressing matters!”

  “YES MA’AM!”

  waah... so this is what is like having a small army? Thanks to the butler for gathering them all here, seriously he’s surprisingly useful!

  “The mission is simple, you guys will storm a sve auction! I want to save all the poor sves being sold in it! And capture as many culprits as possible”

  “YES MA’AM!”

  The way they all respond at the same time it’s quite empowering, I like them a lot as well!

  “I’ll understand if you don’t manage to arrest everyone of the people involved, but if a single of the sves die, well I hope you’re ready to put your life on the line as atonement!”

  “YES MA’AM!”

  “Great, you might already know this, but Heather will be the captain of this operation”

  She’s looking at me dumbfounded, don’t look at me like that, you already have experience with the bunch. Weren’t you their ex-captain?

  “Why the shocked face? I’m sure they’re eager to help you out, and your sister as well”

  She then gave me a smile, it’s obvious her heart is aching right now, but she seems to be moved.

  “The auction is gonna happen at 6 in the afternoon, you guys will gather around at that hour! There's gonna be the possibility of raising eyebrows if the pace guards get in formation near the auction house, so the pn is the following: I want you guys to pass off as civilians around the pce! Fortunately the guild is close by! so no one will suspect people with weapons going around, by 6:15 you’ll swiftly form and surround as many exits as you can, finally you’ll strike the pce! Did I made myself clear!”

  “YES MA'AM!”

  Fortunately the guild was reuniting people for that golem thing, good thing I didn’t end it, we can pass off inadvertently thanks to it!

  “Great! Heather, you’ll enter the auction when it starts”

  I know, at least from what the butler told me when I interrogated him when he gave me the map, things are not pleasant there.

  “You’ll go as a representative of the town lord, the money isn’t important, if you see your sister bid for her, as long as you win the bid, no one will touch her probably”

  “Marisa...”

  “Celestial, once the pace guards start storming the pce, it’s your signal to enter into action, Heather, can you light things up in fmes to make a smoke signal?”

  “Eh? Y-yeah!”

  “Good, keep your eyes peeled Celestial”

  “Will do”

  “That’s the pn girls, and finally for me, I’ll storm the north auction, it’s a bit far from the other two, but to our luck, it starts 15 minutes after Heather’s one, thus the timeframes, I’ll try to finish it as soon as possible, and come help you two if needed”

  “Me too Marisa, if I’m done with mine and Heather’s we’ll rush to your side”

  “Sounds like a pn!”

  And so, the mission to save Heather's little sister came into action, we all left the pace, and went to our respective part of the city. Almost, I’m the st one to enter into action, so it will be a while for me, I took the most expensive auction, because according to the butler, it’s for nobility and such, probably the best guarded one, Heather it’s a no go, and Celestial could do it but she doesn’t recognize Ellie, I want to make sure she makes it back safe and sound, it would be risky to have her do the worse one.

  I tried containing myself, but my blood has been boiling for a while now. Before going to the sve auction, I went to a forest and leveled it to the ground a bit, trashing trees and nature on my way, refrained myself from burning them to not make an even bigger mess, for some reason I enjoyed destroying stuff, it felt almost therapeutical

  “Phew...”

  It’s not the time yet, but I needed to vent out a bit. I feel so angry right now for some reason, if I don’t do this I feel like I’ll lose control in the auction...

  I looked down at the invitation for the auction, I gave the other two to Heather and Celestial, it’s the way we’re gonna enter the different auctions. In a sense the butler helped us a lot, maybe I’ll consider keeping him around after this. Just as the pace knights, honestly they’re all quite competent and professional, it’s just that they have a terrible boss.

  The piggy though... The piggy is gonna pay for his crimes!

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  “The carriage it’s ready, your majesty!”

  “Thanks, you know there’s no need to be so formal all the-”

  “...Are you ignoring me on purpose? Is it that important to keep appearances? I try to pass off as friendly as possible”

  “Your majesty, we cannot allow the people to see us workers disrespecting your authority”

  “I guess the image of pride warmonger of my grandpa it’s a hard stigma to get rid of”

  “None at all! I think the people hold their majesty in the highest regards!”

  “I’d like to think we’ve gone a long way since people feared the royal family, but you’re giving me too much credit, the war with the empire still rages on, the rot of our past still grips our country, despite the efforts of my father and I”

  “I think the country has been the most peaceful it has ever been in recent history”

  “Peace above all else, I just worry that peace has been disturbed once again”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing, in fact there’s been nothing but good news right?”

  “Yeah... How long will it take us to reach Welst?”

  “We’ll be arriving about sunset your majesty, te at night in the worst case scenario, should we postpone it to arrive at a more appropriate time?”

  “No, we depart immediately”

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  “Well, I’ve done what you asked, are you sure that it’s gonna work?”

  “Do you doubt our word? Have we not proven ourselves reliable?”

  “You two are incredibly shady always cloaked like that, but you have a point, as long as you know who’s in charge, we won’t have a problem”

  “As you command lord Gwendal”

  “Now if you excuse me, I must get ready, you guys have no idea how many nobles got involved into this”

  “Of course, we shall prepare our part of the deal as well”

  In a forest, at the edge of town, two hooded figures, one taller than the other, spoke between each other, interrupting the silence with their voices.

  “Are you sure about this? The auctions go outside of our original pn”

  “It’s fine, we don’t want to lose our connections with the kingdom, if a couple of braindead nobles can fool around and be happy like that, it’s a small detour at worst”

  “I hate detours, can’t we just enter the fray already?”

  “Not yet, this is naught but a test remember”

  “Hmm, nonetheless, I feel like that stupid town lord will ruin things”

  “It’s fine even if he does, I doubt he’ll keep his position of power for long, besides if it’s truly in the way, we simply get rid of him, end of the problem”

  “What about Celestial? She got involved faster than we expected”

  “There’s no reason for Celestial to know of us at the moment, besides we already expected her presence to show up sooner or ter”

  “Well you have a point”

  “He~”

  “Why are you smiling?”

  “Nothing, no reason at all”

  Joanne_carper